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Weather Education

Best books to give to the weather enthusiast

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Today we’ll take a look at some of the best books out there for the weather enthusiast in your life as well as for kids interested in learning more about the weather.
Today we’ll take a look at some of the best books out there for the weather enthusiast in your life as well as for kids interested in learning more about the weather.

Weather-related gifts for the “weather geek” in your life abound.  From books to increase ones knowledge of weather to personal weather stations and even clothes and novelties all make great gifts this holiday season.  Today we’ll take a look at some of the best books out there for the weather enthusiast in your life as well as for kids interested in learning more about the weather. 

ThorntonWeather.com’s top four weather books for the weather enthusiast

Colorado Weather Almanac – Written by Mike Nelson of Denver’s KMGH channel 7, this is the definitive book about Colorado weather.  Everything from how our geography impacts the weather in Colorado to historical weather information to storm chasing is covered.  This is highly recommended.  Click here to read my full review of the book.

The Weather Book: An Easy-to-Understand Guide to the USA’s Weather – By Jack Williams of USA Today, this covers the entire gamut of weather phenomena and conditions all with the beautiful illustrations USA Today’s weather section is famous for.  This easy to read book is a great one for those wanting to learn more about the weather but it also has plenty of in depth information for even those already well versed on the basics. 

Weather: The Ultimate Book of Meteorological Events – This newly released hardcover book has some of the most beautiful (and scary) photos you will ever see of weather events.  Accompanied by essays from meteorology and climate change experts, book has 20 years worth of photos of significant weather events.  Also included are U.S. and international monthly climactic data charts, 365 days of weather trivia and significant events in meteorological history.

Adventures in Tornado Alley: The Storm Chasers – Quite simply, wow!  The images this book contains will amaze and astound you.  Professional storm chasers Mike Hollingshead and Eric Nguyen document some of their most incredible chases across the nation’s midsection in photographs and text.  Absolutely stunning imagery.  

Three weather books for kids

The Kids’ Book of Weather Forecasting – For your 3rd to 5th grader, this book provides a great primer for kids interested in learning more about the weather.  Beautiful illustrations make the topics easy to understand and experiments like making a barometer and rain gauge gives kids a hands-on experience.

Storm Chasers! On the Trail of Twisters – Written for kids 7 – 13 years old by veteran storm chasers, this helps to explain severe weather to youth.  Colorful illustrations help kids become familiar with various types of storms, learn how to spot them and teaches them storm chasing safety and responsible storm chasing behavior. 

The Weather Detectives – This book chronicles three kids as they investigate weather phenomena like the causes of tornadoes, hurricanes, ice and hail storms, flash floods, the Northern Lights, and more.  Written by a professional meteorologist, this book is sure to educate and entertain.

Climatology, National Weather

Global warming? Not this year in the U.S.

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Global warming? Not this year in the U.S. Thus far most of the United States is experiencing cooler temperatures in 2008.
Global warming? Not this year in the U.S. Thus far most of the United States is experiencing cooler temperatures in 2008.

According to the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), much of the United States is experiencing below normal temperatures thus far in 2008.  In all, through the end of October, over 80% of the continental United States is experiencing normal or below normal temperatures.

This news comes on the heels of some other interesting “cool weather” recently.  The Swiss lowlands received the most snow for October since 1931 and areas of Florida broke 150 year record temperature lows.  Perhaps in a somewhat ironic event, London experienced its first October snow since 1922 on the same day the House of Commons was debating Global Warming.  🙂

Certainly we cannot draw any real conclusions about manmade climate change or global warming from these isolated incidents but they do have to make you wonder. 

Local News, Thornton Weather

City of Thornton launches Thornton Connected

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For those that may not have noticed it in the most recent issue of Inside Thornton, the city has launched a new service called Thornton Connected.  This new website and system allows area residents access to all sorts of new information from the city.  First is a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section of the website that covers the entire breadth of city services.  That same information is also available by phone.  Second is an email subscription service that allows area residents to receive periodic emails from the city on a range of topics from just about every city department. 

We have subscribed to many of the email newsletters and have them to be very informative.  The city is also doing a great job of ensuring the number of messages isn’t overwhelming and is only sending out the important stuff.  We commend the City of Thornton on this new service for residents! 

At the current time the system is only for non-emergency messages.  We do wish and hope the city will consider expanding the system to include emergency messages such as tornado warnings, Amber Alerts and other emergency alerts.  The city does not have an emergency siren system or any other way to disseminate emergency information to residents and we believe this would be a valuable and potentially life saving service.  A number of municipalities across the country and in Colorado have implemented such systems.  We are going to talk to the city about this and will update you when we learn more about their plans. 

You can learn more about Thornton Connected on the city’s website or by going directly to http://connected.cityofthornton.net.  As we mentioned, the winter issue of Inside Thornton also has information on the service.  You can download the issue by clicking here – page 10 and 11 have the Thornton Connected information.

Colorado Weather, Thornton Weather

Winter weather preparedness articles added to Weather Education

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Please view the Winter Weather Preparedness series to ensure you are ready for the winter!
Please view the Winter Weather Preparedness series to ensure you are ready for the winter!

We recently published a series of articles from the National Weather Service as part of Colorado’s Winter Weather Preparedness Week.  We have now made those stories easier to find by adding them to the Weather Education menu on the left of every page. 

This series of articles is a ‘must read’ for anyone living or traveling in Colorado or any place else that receives severe winter weather.  Covering a wide range of related topics, these articles help ensure you are ready for the coming winter.  The articles cover the following topics:

 

Part 1 Winter travel safety
Part 2 Watches…warnings…and advisories
Part 3 High winds
Part 4 Wind chill temperatures and hypothermia
Part 5  Avalanche safety
Review  Winter Weather Preparedness Week review
Weather History

November 9th – 15th – This week in Denver weather history

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November 9th - 15th - This week in Denver weather history.
November 9th - 15th - This week in Denver weather history.

Plenty of snow and wind dominate a look back at the Denver weather calendar for this week in weather history – November 9th to the 15th. 

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
645 PM MST SAT NOV 08 2008

…THIS WEEK IN METRO DENVER WEATHER HISTORY…

8-9   IN 1897…WEST WINDS WERE SUSTAINED TO 45 MPH WITH GUSTS
        AS HIGH AS 50 MPH IN THE CITY.
      IN 1919…POST-FRONTAL HEAVY SNOWFALL TOTALED 8.4 INCHES OVER
        DOWNTOWN DENVER.  MOST OF THE SNOW…6.6 INCHES…FELL ON THE
        9TH.  NORTH WINDS WERE SUSTAINED TO 26 MPH WITH GUSTS TO
        30 MPH ON THE 8TH.
      IN 1950…A MAJOR WINTER STORM DUMPED 10.4 INCHES OF SNOW AT
        STAPLETON AIRPORT WITH THE MOST SNOW…7.8 INCHES…FALLING
        ON THE 8TH.  EAST WINDS GUSTED TO 31 MPH AT STAPLETON
        AIRPORT ON THE 8TH.  SNOWFALL TOTALED 8.2 INCHES IN
        DOWNTOWN DENVER.
      IN 1958…STRONG WINDS CAUSED SOME DAMAGE IN BOULDER.  WEST-
        NORTHWEST WINDS GUSTED TO 40 MPH AT STAPLETON AIRPORT ON
        THE 8TH.
      IN 1975…HEAVY SNOWFALL HIT METRO DENVER.  SNOWFALL AT
        STAPLETON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TOTALED 8.0 INCHES AND
        EAST WINDS GUSTED TO 21 MPH.  POWER OUTAGES CAUSED BY THE
        STORM AFFECTED OVER 10 THOUSAND PEOPLE IN METRO DENVER.  IN
        THE FOOTHILLS WEST OF DENVER…10 TO 15 INCHES OF SNOW FELL.
        THE STORM PRODUCED THE GREATEST 24-HOUR PRECIPITATION…1.29
        INCHES…EVER RECORDED DURING THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER IN THE
        CITY.
Continue reading November 9th – 15th – This week in Denver weather history →

Local News, Site News

Announcing Weather Geek Stuff – www.weathergeekstuff.com

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Weather Geek Stuff is a new site with a wide array of weather related clothing and novelties.
Weather Geek Stuff is a new site with a wide array of weather related clothing and novelties.

As avowed “weather geeks”, we are never afraid to let folks know of our hobby – some might actually call it an obsession.  🙂   In order to let us proclaim our interest in the weather ThorntonWeather.com has launched Weather Geek Stuff – www.weathergeekstuff.com. 

Powered by Café Press, we have created a bunch of “Weather Geek” logo merchandise.  There is even “Weather Diva” logo merchandise stuff for ladies and kids can get stuff in their size as well.  We have also created some ‘warning sign’ logos that are pretty amusing that can be put on all sorts of different items.  There is even ThorntonWeather.com merchandise! Everything from t-shirts to polo shirts and from coffee mugs to clocks are available, all with a cool logos and graphics. 

By buying items from Weather Geek Stuff, you will be helping to support this website.  All proceeds from sales of items go directly to the somewhat considerable costs for maintaining ThorntonWeather.com and updating with the new features you have come to appreciate. 

With the holidays coming up, Weather Geek Stuff will make great gifts for the Weather Geek or Weather Diva on your shopping list! 

Climatology, Severe Weather, Weather Education

ThorntonWeather.com sneak peek – Storm Chasers episode 4 preview

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The probe trucks await an opportunity to deploy their instruments on Discovery Channel's Storm Chasers.
The probe trucks await an opportunity to deploy their instruments on Discovery Channel's Storm Chasers.

We continue to be granted sneak peeks of new episodes of the Discovery Channel’s Storm Chaser’s (Sunday’s @ 8:00pm MST).  Last week corn husks fell from the sky on the scout crew after a tornado had passed and Reed and the TornadoVideos.net team chased a twister in the dark. 

As the show chronicles the 2008 storm season, it is now getting into what was the most intense period of the summer.  This coming Sunday’s episode guide says:

NIGHTMARE ON DOW STREET – Nov. 9 at 10 p.m. ET/PT
Halfway into the season, TIV1 returns to action, and the whole team heads first toward Oklahoma and then into Arkansas. Monster hail storms batter the fleet, but the vehicles forge ahead as tornadoes start touching down all across this part of the Great Plains. Everyone gets to feast on the tornado bounty, but after dark, a twister chases the chasers in the streets of Stuttgart, Arkansas.

This week’s episode sneak peek –  The storm chasers race to outrun a devastating twister as it quickly catches up to the team’s TIV-1 vehicle in this clip from Storm Chasers.

Colorado Weather, Severe Weather, Weather Education

Wild Western Weather 2008 announced

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Wild Western Weather 2008 will be held on November 18th.
Wild Western Weather 2008 will be held on November 18th.

The channel 7 24 / 7 Weather Center has accounced an exciting event – Wild Western Weather 2008.  The event will be held at the Wild Life Experience in Parker on Tuesday, November 18th from 6:00pm to 10:00pm.  This looks to be a great event with a number of notable speakers.  

Some of the highlights include: 

  • Tim Samaras – Tornado Expert – featured in National Geographic Magazine, “Inside Tornadoes – The Latest Research: Twistex 2008” 
  • Tony Laubach – Storm Chaser – “The Windsor Tornado vs Douglas County Landspouts” 
  • Dr. Walt Lyons – Lightning Researcher – “Flash Facts – Red Sprites, Blue Jets and Other Rare Airities” 
  • Ethan Green – Director, Colorado Avalanche Information Center – “Avalanches and the Big Snow Winter of 2007-08” 
  • Dr. Thomas Schlatter – NOAA’s Earth System Research Lab and the University of Colorado – “The Pine Bark Beetle – A Canary for Climate Change?”

    • I do wish they had chosen a more central location for it or at least held the event on the weekend.  It is pretty tough for anyone who works and lives north to try to make it down there. 

    For more information, check it out on channel 7’s website here:  http://www.thedenverchannel.com/weather/5103957/detail.html

    Thornton Weather

    This week in Denver weather history – November 1 to November 8

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    This week in Denver weather history - November 1 to November 8
    This week in Denver weather history - November 1 to November 8

    Lots of snow and lots of wind are the common theme when looking back at this week in Denver weather history.  Certainly fall always brings the wind and November is our second snowiest month and the history books definitely seem to back that up.

    1-2   IN 1892…SNOWFALL TOTALED 5.0 INCHES IN DOWNTOWN DENVER.
            THIS WAS THE ONLY SNOW OF THE MONTH.
          IN 1956…HEAVY SNOWFALL TOTALED 7.0 INCHES AT STAPLETON
            AIRPORT.  THE STORM WAS ACCOMPANIED BY MUCH BLOWING AND
            DRIFTING SNOW.  NORTH WINDS GUSTED TO 47 MPH.
          IN 1991…THE STORM SYSTEM WHICH HIT THE FRONT RANGE AT THE
            END OF OCTOBER FINISHED THE JOB DURING THE START OF
            NOVEMBER.  SIX INCHES OF NEW SNOW WERE RECORDED AT BOTH
            ROLLINSVILLE AND MORRISON…WHILE 2.9 INCHES OF SNOW
            FELL AT STAPLETON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT WHERE NORTHEAST
            WINDS GUSTED TO 17 MPH.  THE TEMPERATURE CLIMBED TO A
            HIGH OF ONLY 19 DEGREES ON THE 2ND…SETTING A RECORD
            LOW MAXIMUM FOR THE DATE.
    Continue reading This week in Denver weather history – November 1 to November 8 →

    Thornton Weather

    ThorntonWeather.com sneak peek – Storm Chasers episode 3 preview

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    Test
    The three stars from Storm Chasers: Sean Casey - TIV Chief and Champion Storm Chaser, Dr. Josh Wurman - Research Meteorologist, and Reed Timmer - TVN Lead Storm Chaser, Meteorologist

    A little birdie with the Discovery Channel popped in with a surprise for me and for ThorntonWeather.com readers – a sneak peek at this coming Sunday’s episode of Discovery Channel’s Storm Chasers! 

    For those that haven’t seen the show, it is must see TV, even if you aren’t much into weather.  The show chronicles a team of storm chasers as they crisscross the Great Plains hunting tornadoes.  They have an array of high tech gagetry at hand to help them in their chase to further our understanding of the storms including the TIV – Tornado Intercept Vehicle.  The TIV’s primary function?  To drive into a tornado! 

    The third episode’s summary says:

    Storm Chasers
    Mutiny on the Plains
    Sunday, Nov 02 at 10:00 pm E/P on Discovery Channel
    Tensions mount between Sean and Josh, as Reed offers to chase with the TIV. Reed chases a risky nighttime tornado into the hills of Arkansas, while Sean and Josh return to Greensburg, Kansas one year after a twister nearly wiped the town off the map.

    Without further ado, ThorntonWeather.com’s sneak peak of the episode.  In this scene small pieces of debris fall from the sky after meteorologists Danny and Aaron track down a funnel cloud in Rock Valley, Iowa.